KARACHI: I want to protest against the inefficiency of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) when it came to organising the polling stations during the May 11 elections. My polling station was at the DA High School, Phase VIII. The time for commencement of polling was 8am. We (my wife and daughter) reached the school at 7.50am. There was already a substantial rush and long queues of both men and women had already formed. However, we were told that the polling material had still not reached the place. At 10.10am, a truck came with the requisite material. Polling commenced at 10.50am. Fortunately, as a senior citizen, I along with several others did not have to wait in the queue and were ushered into the polling station right away. I was thus through with the exercise by 11.20am, came out and waited for my wife. She was also given preferential treatment as a senior citizen but she was only able to cast her vote at 12.45pm. My wife and I then came home. My daughter was, however, not as lucky and had to wait several hours before she could cast her vote.
During the December 1970 elections, I was posted in Thatta as a first class magistrate and second class civil judge and in that capacity, I was the presiding officer at a Thatta polling station. All the polling material reached my residence by midnight and I took it to the polling station immediately after Fajr prayers and set up the polling station which was ready by 7.30am, whereas the polling was to commence, so far as I remember, at 9am. There was a huge rush but there were no unexplained delays.
What had gone wrong at the polling station in DHA, as well as other ones in the city? Was this because the 1970 polls were conducted by a military government and these polls by a civilian one? I would bring to your notice the following features of inefficiency:
1) We waited like fools and there was no one to tell us why the delay was taking place. There should have been someone to explain the delay to the waiting voters.
2) We had gone to the polling station under the assumption that, as we were going early, we would be free by 9am. But we ended up being stuck there, till after 1pm. You cannot imagine what a torture it was to remain stuck there without food or water.
3) The staff was inadequate in numbers. There must have been around 20 booths, but there were only two persons (a male and a female) to deal with males and similarly, two persons on the female side.
4) We got the impression that this was done to put as many obstacles in the process of voting so that the voters get frustrated and go home. There could be no other explanation for starting the polling nearly three hours late.
5) A few armed ruffians of a political party barged in and forced their way inside the polling station at gunpoint, though, fortunately, the armed jawans of the army inside pushed them out. The presence of the jawans was not enough though and, instead of pushing them out, the ruffians should have been locked up for the day and taken to the police station and should have been challaned.
Justice (retd) Salahuddin Mirza
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2013.
